1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an attachment structure for an in-vehicle camera.
2. Description of Related Art
There is a case where a vehicle such as an automobile includes an in-vehicle camera that is configured to be installed in a vehicle cabin and capture a road ahead of the vehicle for a purpose of obtaining and recording information on the road ahead of the vehicle or assisting a driver in driving the vehicle. A CCD camera can be raised as an example of the in-vehicle camera. The in-vehicle camera is attached, with a bracket, to a specified position with respect to the vehicle. The bracket is commonly fixed by adhesion to an inner surface of a windshield.
The bracket used for attachment of the in-vehicle camera has a spring mechanism. The in-vehicle camera is pressed by the spring mechanism, and a portion of the in-vehicle camera is engaged with a portion of the bracket other than the spring mechanism. In this way, the in-vehicle camera is attached to the bracket. For example, an in-vehicle-camera attachment structure that includes the bracket with a plate spring as the spring mechanism is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2013-193558 (JP 2013-193558 A).
In the in-vehicle-camera attachment structure in the related art, a spring member of the spring mechanism is fixed to the bracket. For this reason, the bracket needs to be replaced when it is desired to change the spring mechanism due to deterioration of a spring force of the spring member or the like. In addition, since the bracket is fixed by adhesion to the inner surface of the windshield, it is impossible to replace the bracket only. Accordingly, in order to replace the bracket, the windshield, to which the bracket is fixed, needs to be replaced. Therefore, maintenance related to the attachment of the in-vehicle camera cannot easily and efficiently be performed at low cost.
By the way, there is a case where the in-vehicle camera needs to be replaced even when the spring force of the spring member is not changed by aging. For example, there is a case where the in-vehicle camera is replaced with an in-vehicle camera in which a portion pressed by the spring member has different size or a different shape. In such a case, a pressing force that acts on the in-vehicle camera after the replacement no longer has a specified value. Thus, also in the case where the in-vehicle camera is replaced, the maintenance related to the attachment of the in-vehicle camera cannot possibly be performed easily and efficiently at low cost.